Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

103 reviews

belacqua's review

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book reads like an episode of The Twilight Zone. Thrilling plot developments and well developed characters had me zoom through it in one sitting. It has a very hopeful message about escaping abuse and finding the strength to rise above limitations forced on you by those who want to see you fail. Martine is such a well written and sympathetic character who shows that initial preconceived notions put on her by others can't define who she chooses to become. Evelyn has a strong story arc that sees her overcoming horrific emotional abuse to find the strength to break the cycle of others cruelty and betrayal to begin extending grace that she was never given. All of it told in a compelling Sci-fi story that will keep you hooked.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Infidelity

eachz's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I really struggled on and off with finishing this book but ultimately I landed on the side of liking it. A lot of the things that bothered me or seemed confusing early on made a bit more sense when all the pieces started to click together in the end. It was hard at times to get through the first ~half but I think the author ultimately did a good job of exploring the themes they were aiming to explore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Death, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Medical content

Moderate: Blood, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Murder

christene_littlelibrary's review

dark emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Blood, Infidelity, Murder, Death, and Pregnancy

morag's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is a bit of an acquired taste, and I'm not sure that I acquired it by the end. If you love reading books with horrible main characters you are meant to hate, you'll love this. If not, this is going to be upsetting from start to finish.

I do think this book is relatively successful at what it sets out to do. It explores cycles of abuse, misogyny (both external and internal), and, obviously, the ethics of cloning. Martine's storyline really pulled me in, and every revelation about what her life was like got me more and more invested. The place she ended up in by the end still sticks with me. I wanted to pry the book open, pull her out of it, and weld the door shut after her. That speaks volumes for the effectiveness of Gailey's writing. 

That being said, the main character, Evelyn, is written as a cold, uncaring asshole, and that is done so effectively that it makes the novel hard to read. If you need your main characters to be even remotely likable or empathetic, you will not like this one. I do understand that Evelyn is intended to be this way, but on a personal level, it was just too much. I couldn't stomach a second read of this.

Overall, this is a brutal examination of misogyny, abuse, and personhood. It won't be for everyone, but if you're ready for a tough read, it'll deliver.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Child abuse

Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, and Medical trauma

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, Domestic abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Sexism, Pregnancy, Violence, Misogyny, and Child abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Infertility, Abortion, Vomit, and Car accident

rockyc5's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Other than that I thought I had better ideas of what to do to solve the problems the characters faced than what they came up with, THIS BOOK IS AWESOME. I think it's fair to say it's totally unique even as books about

clones

multiply. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Pregnancy, Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Minor: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Suicide

jeannette_m's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child abuse and Suicide

puffinthedog's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Speaking as someone who is still unlearning the things I was taught throughout childhood and multiple abusive relationships- The Echo Wife was a heartbreaking novel of how childhood abuse and interpersonal violence strip people of their will and leaves them unsure who is making the choices for them, even in their own heads. If you don’t have a history of psychological abuse, perhaps it can be read as a book questioning the ethics of cloning, and with that framework I can’t tell you how good a story this is if that’s what you’re looking for. I have no idea how plausible the science is that backs the plot. But as someone who identified with Martine this story made me see things in myself that I knew were there and made me look directly at them in broad daylight in a way that, maybe for the first time, allowed me to really feel sad for myself and angry at my own Nathans (and Evelyns). 

I don’t know if this book is a masterpiece in general or just a masterpiece for me, in this moment I’m in. I’m too deep in my own experience that resonates too loudly for me to comment on writing or storyline. I think both of those things were enjoyable and interesting, but the overall experience of this book is the emotion and the characters. I can see this falling flat for someone who just wants a fun sci-fi romp and not a look at how parenting, society, and intimate partner violence shapes people and makes us question how much free will we have and if it’s possible to break the programming in a world that wants us pleasant, submissive, and unquestioning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Medical content, Pregnancy, Slavery, Infidelity, and Violence

Minor: Abortion and Suicide

softanimal's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Abortion, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Body horror, and Medical content

turrean's review

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The book was a clever and chilling reflection on how people are shaped and socialized, especially women. I kept getting caught up in questions about the plausibility of the plot, before realizing that the improbability of the narrative wasn’t the point: the moral dilemma was the point. And, I suppose, the horrifying inevitability of the conclusion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Death, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse